Adrienne, yes, it’s illegal to ask us our marital status. They ask anyway. They can’t guess from our names because Spaniards never change it on marriage.

No one would try to say anything like, “Businesses might be afraid of being sued if they hire a black person and then have to fire him or her, so we should get rid of racial protection laws.

FFS.

If only this were true. And why must these things so often be compared to the supposed experience of black people?

Wow, that’s really horrid. I had no idea. In the United States it’s illegal for an interviewer or potential employer to even *ask* you about your marital status — is that not true in Spain? They can’t even ask you “what’s your maiden name,” because that would indicate marital status if answered.

Other questions you cannot legally be asked in an interview in the US include questions about your age, political affiliation, country of origin, disabilities you might have, or arrest record (they CAN ask if you’ve ever been convicted of a felony; but they can’t ask if you’ve been arrested, or convicted of misdemeanors.)

Now, of course a lot of companies and interviewers DO ask these sorts of questions, either accidentally or deliberately. But it’s at least officially not allowed.

And I also have to point out that employees in Spain have SFA as far as rights go. Which is a big reason that I’m currently living in the UK, even though I’m dying to go home. I’ve kind of got used to be treated as a human being.

It’s also illegal, but still, very frequent, that if you’re a young woman and you go to a job interview, the interviewer asks you your marital status. Everyone says they’re single. Nodoby wants to hire women that may get pregnant and this is a very serious issue over here.

Of course this doesn’t mean that there should be less protection, but it’s not an easy situation.